Movie Club: Gremlins

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE LATEST DISCUSSION THREAD OF THE NEW MOVIE CLUB, DESIGNED TO RUN PARALLEL WITH R.O.C.K.S. A big thanks to everyone that are joining us through all of this.

This week we're covering the festive period with Gremlins.

Remember any ideas for films to discuss are most welcome, and should be made on the Movie Club Introduction thread (the sticky one), and anyone is welcome to add their thoughts about movies already discussed on their respective threads.

Just a friendly reminder to everyone that, whilst fans are obviously welcome to passionately discuss and give their views on these movies, please remember to keep things on a friendly footing and respect your fellow posters.
Also, please do not post where or how to find the full movie online. And do not post asking others to PM it to you. You are however allowed to watch the movie in whatever manner you want.

I first seen parts of this movie when I was really young. So I knew of Gremlins but I didn't get to see it properly again until around 1997 when I was 12 and recorded it off TV. I got to watch it a couple times but the VHS it was recorded on wasn't the best quality so I couldn't really watch it. It wasn't until around 2008 I would get to watch it properly again when I got the DVD boxset of 1+2. I actually got Gremlins 2 on VHS for Christmas 1995 and watched it a lot over the years and really liked it. Although it wasn't as good as the first one. Still very enjoyable though and a lot more interesting than some sequels which were basically just re-treads of the first movie.
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I love this movie. Great story, likeable characters, great acting, wonderful effects.
The Christmas setting is perfect for it and the houses and town of Kingston Falls looks just like a Christmas card.[/FONT][/LEFT]

Billy gets a the mysterious pet as an early Christmas present and told the three rules.
Don't expose the mogwai to bright light...dont get them wet...never feed them after midnight.
As soon as you hear the three rules you know they will be broken eventually.

So many great scenes.
My favourite is probably Lynn Peltzer facing the Gremlins in the house.
Another would be when Mrs Deagle encounters the Gremlins. She was a great villain in the movie. It's a shame they didn't use her a bit more.
All the scenes of chaos the Gremlins are getting up to in town are very entertaining. The one I always remembered from when I first seen the movie was them watching Snow White in the cinema.
And of course the final scenes in the department store.

Two of the best special effects are the cocoons and the end with Stripe.
In fact the effects of the all the Gremlins was really amazing for puppets and the technology available at the time.

Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates were great as Billy and Cate.
I was quite surprised when I learned Howie Mandel did the voice of Gizmo. Outside of seeing him as a judge on Americas Got Talent and one episode of Monk I really didn't know anything about him.
Frank Welker gave Stripe and awesome voice and his Transformer co-star peter Cullen also voiced a Gremlin.

I recall watching this movie one Christmas Eve when we had a lot of snow and late that night just after the film ended I went outside and it really reminded me of how the town looks at the end of the movie.

I would class this as a horror movie but due to the comic tone of the film it really is something special and not just a run of the mill horror like it could have been.
Thankfully this movie only had one sequel rather than loads of them trying to cash in on the merchandise sales.
After the success of Gremlins a lot of similar creature movies came out like Critters, Ghoulies and Hobgoblins but all of them really lacked the charm of Gremlins.
I am against sequels and remakes etc but I love Gremlins so much I would really love to see more of them in another film/s or a TV series something like Netflix's Stranger Things as long as the correct writers and directors etc worked on it and respected the original movies.
I have read some rumours that the script for Gremlins 3 has been written and Warners Bros really want to make it. :D:x3:thumbsup

On Christmas Eve ''The Keith and Paddy Picture Show'' did a parody of Gremlins which was shown just before the Gremlins movie.
The only nice thing I can say about it was that Zach Galligan made an appearance in it.
Aside from that it was an awful unfunny mess just like the rest of their parody shows and a really odd decision to show it before the real movie.

Gremlins is a classic '80's horror/comedy film. Though it's definitely considered a Christmas movie, note that it was actually released in Summer '84. I remember seeing it theatrically that summer, before I entered high school.

Fantastic storyline & creature effects here. I like how the original "Gizmo" Gremlin was very subdued & peaceful, but then his compatriots were - in many cases - mean & vicious. The creature/animatronic effects on both versions of the creature were fantastic - especially by early '80's standards.

The sequence when the original Gremlins fell in the water & then it started rumbling - you knew something horrific would happen....due to the warning to "not to get them wet".

Elements of the storyline were obviously based on the classic holiday film, It's a Wonderful Life.

Years after this movie came out, I do remember seeing some Gremlins action figures in Toys R' Us - didn't get them, but was tempted to do so - given that the sculpts were fantastic.

[USER=26435]@The Drifter[/USER] the more recent NECA Gremlins action figures look absolutely amazing.